


Meanwhile

by doubled_helix



Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and the 21st Century, Bucky thinks this is a Great Idea, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Steve Rogers loves dogs, Steve talks about growing a beard, T'Challa doesn't want to babysit these dorks, he has his own problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 11:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12432060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubled_helix/pseuds/doubled_helix
Summary: “Do you think T’Challa will let us get a puppy?” Steve asked from across the kitchen table. He had been scrolling through what seemed like an endless supply of dog pictures on his iPad for the better part of an hour now, and his eyes had widened to the size of moons.“He seems like more of a cat person,” Bucky replied.(Or: In which Bucky and Steve take advantage of T'Challa's gracious hospitality while T'Challa deals with Real Serious Issues.)





	Meanwhile

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stop imagining what the heck Bucky and Steve are doing while T'Challa is being a badass, so voila. This was born. It's probably going to conflict horribly with the movie when it comes out, so I apologize in advance. 
> 
> Who is editing? I don't know her.

After Steve snuck him out of his cryostasis chamber for the twenty-third time, Bucky decided to stop going back in. It was easier on the nerves of everyone involved. More than once, Bucky had seen T’Challa glaring at the back of Steve’s head and muttering about how much energy they were wasting deactivating and reactivating the cryo machine. So Bucky stopped protesting, if not for the sake of his own sanity then for T’Challa’s. The man was doing enough already, letting them stay in his house and eat his food. If Steve tried to sneak Bucky out of cryostasis one more time, the poor guy might actually snap. And then they would die.

“Do you think T’Challa will let us get a puppy?” Steve asked from across the kitchen table. He had been scrolling through what seemed like an endless supply of dog pictures on his iPad for the better part of an hour now, and his eyes had widened to the size of moons.

Bucky smiled – he seemed to be doing that more and more these days. It was truly disconcerting; he would consider seeing a doctor if the last doctor he remembered hadn’t been a crazy, sadistic Nazi bent on recreating a magic potion from a Rubik’s cube belonging to the aliens in the sky.

“He seems like more of a cat person,” Bucky said, dropping another three sugar cubes in his tea. Bucky would rather rip off his other arm than admit it, but he much preferred tea to coffee. Nothing could make him feel so satisfyingly pretentious as tea did.

“But puppies are adorable!” Steve exclaimed, and either he didn’t understand Bucky’s joke, or he was deliberately ignoring it. “Let’s ask him.”

“Aw, come off it, Stevie, you know that ain’t fair. He can’t say no to you.”

Steve frowned. “What do you mean? Does he still feel guilty about trying to kill you? Did you tell him it’s okay because everyone has tried to kill you at least once?”

Bucky levelled a flat look at his meatball of a boyfriend. “No, punk, it’s your stupid eyes. They get all big and confused when someone refuses you something. And then we feel like we just crushed a hamster, and that’s decidedly unfair.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just you, Buck.”

T’Challa chose that very moment to wander into the kitchen, eyes fixed on his phone, so he didn’t notice Steve bounding towards him until it was too late.

Steve reached T’Challa, iPad thrust out like an offering, stupid hair hanging wetly in his face.

T’Challa glanced down at the rows and rows of tiny golden retrievers then back up at Steve’s ridiculously earnest expression.

“Oh no,” T’Challa said out loud, almost unconsciously.

“Can we?” Steve’s eyes were more open than an interdimensional portal and equally as sparkly.

There was a tense five seconds in which T’Challa seemed to go through the events in his life that led up this hopeless moment. He seemed almost resigned.

“Fine.”

Bucky smirked into his tea. Steve’s smile was like sunshine.

\---

T’Challa wasn’t around a lot lately. He left a while back with some muttered excuse about kingly duties, but he took his cat costume with him, so Bucky wasn’t convinced. Still, he knew T’Challa would explain if he felt Bucky and Steve needed to know. Steve seemed to understand that too since for once, he wasn’t charging headfirst into the fight, thank God.

“Hey, Bucky,” Steve said, poking his head out of the bathroom. It was his fourth trip there in as many hours, and Bucky was already preparing himself for some headache-inducing idea or suggestion.

“Yes, Steve?” he answered cautiously. If he spoke carefully enough, maybe Steve would –

“Do you think I should grow a beard?”

For a moment reality seemed to – stop, then start again, and Bucky slowly unclenched his fingers from where they were tearing into the pages of his book.

“What?” he asked slowly.

“A beard,” Steve replied happily, as if he hadn’t just shattered Bucky’s worldview with that one mental image. “I mean, I never did back when I was smaller because, you know, I _couldn’t_ , but now I really think I should grow one. Just to see.”

Bucky set his book gently on the nightstand and slipped out of bed. He walked towards Steve and gently manhandled him so that they switched places, with Bucky now in the bathroom and Steve in the bedroom.

“Buck –?”

“Give me a moment, doll,” Bucky said, closing the door.

A second later, there was a sound somewhere between a dying moose and tearing metal. The door opened again.

Steve’s eyes went wide when he saw Bucky’s suddenly wild hair and expression.

“Bucky, what –?”

“Let’s have sex,” Bucky declared, maneuvering Steve backwards onto the bed. "Also, we need a new toilet." 

\---

“We missed so many weird music trends,” Steve mused as he flipped through CDs on the floor by the couch.

“You saying you don’t like rock, Stevie?” Bucky _loved_ rock, especially the bands from the 70s and 80s. “You wound me.”

“No, that’s all fine, Buck. I mean the electronic stuff. It all sounds like… noise? To me, at least.”

Bucky smirked. “Maybe you’re just old. With old man music tastes.” A CD bounced off Bucky’s arm and onto one of the couch cushions. “Hey, now,” he complained. “No violence in the living room.”

“Just come down here and listen to this, Buck.”

Bucky deliberately sighed and slid off the couch onto the carpeted ground. “We have to listen with these headphones?”

“The Internet says this’ll produce the most three-dimensional effect.”

“Color me astounded,” Bucky said dryly, slipping on the heavy headset.

 

Outside, a burst of light lit up the night sky, and a distinct tremor rocked through the building. There was the sound of people shouting, and the ear-splitting screech of metal cutting through metal. The building shook again, and a crash distinctly reminiscent of windows shattering resounded below. Another beam of light scattered across the air like fizzling fireworks. T’Challa suddenly flew backwards through the door and landed behind the couch where Steve and Bucky were sitting, eyes glued to the music video on Steve’s iPad. T’Challa shook some debris from his suit before charging back out the door he came through.

The song ended.

 

Bucky pulled off his headphones and stared at Steve with awe.

“These sound effects are incredible,” he declared.

“The future is amazing,” Steve agreed.

**Author's Note:**

> I know Bucky and Steve have magical super soldier senses or whatnot, so that last scene would never happen, but shhh. Let me have this. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
